Strange Outlook Express problem - help needed

[ghm]

Hi there,

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m hoping that some of the very knowledgeable people on the site can help me out with a problem that has just occurred with my email.

I work at home and use Outlook Express to read and send from both my work and NTL address, with OE set up to send messages from my work address via the NTL SMTP server. This has all worked fine for about a year but now when checking my work email I get this error message -

Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of inactivity. Account: †˜*******', Server: ********', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCC0F

My NTL email works fine and, of course, because Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m using the NTL SMTP server for outgoing mail, I can send email from my work address; I just canââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t receive it. There is no real delay between hitting the Send/Receive button and this message appearing, so I figure this isnââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t a time out problem. Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve changed no settings at all nor have I installed any new software other than the most recent Windows Update. I've run System Restore to take my computer back to before this date but this doesn't resolve the problem. Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m running Windows XP Professional (but Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve also tried to check my email on my other PC, running Windows XP Home, and I get the same result) and I have the NTL 150k broadband service. I have XPââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s firewall activated.

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve checked with my work and all is fine there. Also, on entering my problem account details into another computer in the house with NTL dial-up access, it downloads the mail from my work address no problem. So it seems just to be when Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m connected to my BB cable modem.

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m really stumped over this so Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢d be grateful for any assistance.

Many thanks,

Gillian

[iadom]

Hi, and welcome.

Have a look here,http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...46&postcount=1

I had a problem a few minutes ago but it seems OK just now.

[ghm]

Thanks for your reply and your welcome to the site.

My error message isn't dealt with specifically on that page, but it is a useful reference for the future. My email has been like this since yesterday morning, but, as I say, my NTL account works fine and I can check my work account on another computer, so no problems on my work's side either. Seems only to be when connected to my BB cable modem on either of my 2 computers.

[iadom]

More info here. http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;813514

Hi Gillian

looking through the links kindly provided by iadom, the problem that 'rang my bell' was the

'An e-mail item on your POP3 server is damaged' , one.

I've had this before & found that the suggested fix of using webmail to access the account & move/delete any dodgy looking messages, did the trick. - Hope it works for you

[ghm]

Again, thanks for your reply. Checked all the settings etc. and followed the other suggestions on the Microsoft page. The only thing left is to reinstall Outlook Express but I can't believe that both my PCs have been corrupted at exactly the same time.

homealone - thanks for your suggestion. I've accessed my work via their Webmail and deleted all messages on the server there. Again no luck.

Originally Posted by ghm

Again, thanks for your reply. Checked all the settings etc. and followed the other suggestions on the Microsoft page. The only thing left is to reinstall Outlook Express but I can't believe that both my PCs have been corrupted at exactly the same time.

homealone - thanks for your suggestion. I've accessed my work via their Webmail and deleted all messages on the server there. Again no luck.

Bummer

- rather than reinstalling the whole kit & caboodle, you could try deleting and re-establishing the account, first?

[ghm]

Just done that - deleted all my accounts and re-entered the details. Again, no luck. Is this indicative of a fault with my modem at all? I'm wondering whether a call to NTL is in order, although if my NTL account is working I'm sure they won't give me any assistance.

Originally Posted by ghm

Just done that - deleted all my accounts and re-entered the details. Again, no luck. Is this indicative of a fault with my modem at all? I'm wondering whether a call to NTL is in order, although if my NTL account is working I'm sure they won't give me any assistance.

it may be worth giving them a ring, especially as you can get it to work on your dialup connection ?

other than that, the re-install seems to be the only option left - you appear to have tried everything else

[ghm]

I've rung NTL but, as expected, because my NTL account is working okay, they can't offer any help. What I did do was dial-up from both my affected computers to my NTL dial-up service and the emails from my work downloaded without any problem. So that has got to mean that there is no problem with my settings or with any corruption with Outlook Express. Surely it must be something to do with my cable modem?

[iadom]

Thought I would bump this, just in case anyone has any suggestions?

[greencreeper]

Things rarely "just break" - usually something has happened or changed to precipitate the problem. I tend to work from external to internal, because 90% of my problems are caused by someone else

Server
Network path to the server
PC - particularly security software
Email client

My instinct would tell me to look at your place of work first - not just the email server but things like the firewall(s) and router(s). If you get a 100% cast iron guarantee that nothing has been changed, AND you are certain that neither yourself, the cat/dog/hamster, or your PC itself has changed anything, then all you can do is to go over system logs and increase logging verbosity where you can - something will show up.

[ghm]

Thanks for all your suggestions - this is a great site.

I'll certainly check with my work again to see if the problem is on their end. I work for a university and their IT support is pretty much non-existent, especially if you are using things like email from outside their network - but I'll give it a go. What I can't understand is that I can access my email from a dial-up account using the same settings as I use when connected via BB. Excuse the newbie ignorance, but could they have blocked access to the email servers from specific IP addresses?

I'm having a similar problem with sending emails but am able to receive but am not on ntl bb am on freeserve. Everything was fine until a couple of weeks ago and then i started getting the same message as you
But in reverse..... since you can send but not receive.

I checked my site's domain for any trouble shooting advice and this page gives me a possible explanation for mine....... that Freeserve has decided to block my outgoing mail port for any isps but theirs
I haven't tried the telnet querying option that is advised to check if that is the problem but thought i'd share it with you to see if you wanted to check to see if it was the problem with yours.

http://www.aota.net/Troubleshooting/port110.php4

I will have to check port 25 or course but you can send unlike me

Not sure why your dial-up should work and not your BB, although they are different services so thought i'd offer this up as a possible explanation just incase


This may well be a completely STUPID idea but thought i'd take the risk and post even if i do look like a complete trog

[pedantic]

Hi

I don't use oe anymore, but when I did and had a problem I alwats found this site was very helpful http://insideoe/tomsterdam.com/

Regards.